Posted on General

Dread Spherical 2026

I’ll be announcing pre-orders and more info about the book in the weeks ahead.

Watch this space and my social media accounts.

(NOTE: this is a teaser for the cover, which was created using Stock images, not AI)

731 thoughts on “Dread Spherical 2026”

  4. Husband went downstairs for a few minutes. He came up with Christmas decorations. I guess weā€™re decorating today sigh

  6. Watched the first 20 minutes of Das Boot.

    How dare my Apple TV start with the dubbed version!

    Sounds like JĆ¼rgen Prochnow did provide his voice for the English Dub but bleh! Bleh! I say I will watch it another day in German.

  7. I just wrapped up a SLAM interview… The guy isn’t very well-known, but man, his words were incredible. I don’t usually get so verklempt after an interview, but this guy floored me. I need a minute.

  24. Since we watched Monarch, we decided to go back to the 2014 Godzilla.

    Damn, what a frustrating movie. Intentionally frustrating, teasing monster fights for most of it without any payoff. And good lord is the main character dull. And good lord are GodzIllaā€™s giant insectoid opponents uninteresting.

    It still gets a half-hearted thumbs up, but what a waste.

  27. When doomscrolling read a quote by Admiral Nimitz that claimed that the intelligence fuck ups ended up being a kind of blessing with Pearl Harbour as if the US had known of the attack they would have engaged the Japanese fleet with their carriers and lost.

  30. Thursdayā€™s gaming, with a different group, has been cancelled as one of them is ill. Apparently itā€™s not the week for get togethers

  32. last week I saw Christy at the cinema, this week it’s on VOD.

    This is why I’m not surprised cinema attendance has not recovered after the pandemic,

  35. Going to a Christmas party later this afternoon. It looks like the snow will hold off until this evening so, with luck, we’ll be home before it starts and the highway gets stupid.

  38. Whatā€™s your name, the guy asked the kid.
    P, puh, puh, p, p, Peter, replied the boy
    Do you have a stutter? The guy asked kindly
    No, says the kid. My dad had a stutter. The person who did up my birth certificate was an asshole

  39. Whatā€™s your name, the guy asked the kid.
    P, puh, puh, p, p, Peter, replied the boy
    Do you have a stutter? The guy asked kindly
    No, says the kid. My dad had a stutter. The person who did up my birth certificate was an asshole

  42. One day Jesus was walking through a secluded garden in heaven when he saw a man crying.

    Why are you crying? He asked. This is heaven, there should be no tears or sorrow

    The man wiped his eyes and said, I know. Itā€™s just, a long time ago I had a son under, letā€™s say, mysterious circumstances. After many trials he went through a miraculous transformation. A book was even written about him and he became known the world over. When I came here, I was hoping Iā€™d see him here, but I havenā€™t

    Jesus looked at the man incredulously and said, Wait, you wouldnā€™t happen to be a carpenter?

    I am, replied the man

    Jesus smiles and opened his arms wide, Father, he said with joy.

    The old man looked at him doubtfully and said, Pinocchio?

  43. So I only watched Kubrickā€™s The Shining last year for the first time.

    Never seen it at the cinema though , hopefully going to rectify that tomorrow with itā€™s 45th anniversary release this week.

  44. Joe decided to go to a fortune teller. She sat down and said, you will have unspeakable sorrow in twelve years.

    Understandably, after hearing this, Joe was feeling down. So, upon leaving the fortune teller, he decided to cheer himself up by going to the pet store and getting himself a puppy

  45. So we tried out the Angry Axolotls card game. We’d missed a critical point in the rules until about halfway through the game, but even so, I can’t recommend.

    • Of all of them on the list, the only one I saw was ā€œElectric Stateā€. Iā€™m not sure why so many pick on this movie, but I really like it. Itā€™s not going to win any Oscars, and it has some derivative narrative elements, but the characters are likable, the robot designs and personalities are inspired, and overall a fun experience. It seems to succeed where a lot of YA adaptations fail.

  53. Crap joke for today:

    I came home from work to find my wife painting the spare bedroom she wants to use as her home gym.

    I asked what she was doing and she told me her plan. Then I asked, “why are you wearing your ski parka over your fur coat?”

    She picked up the can of paint and pointed to the instructions and read this to me, “for best results use two coats.”

  55. Three men die on Christmas Eve. At the pearly gates Saint Peter says, To get into heaven, you must show something that is in the Christmas spirit

    The first man flicks his lighter and says, this is a candle. Saint Peter lets him in.

    The second man pulls out a key ring and jangles them. These are jingle bells, he says. Saint Peter lets him in.

    The pulls a lace bra and g string from his coat.

    How does that represent Christmas? Asks Saint Peter

    The man replies, Theyā€™re Carols

    • I’ve been in that room! I got a tour of the Microsoft Human Factors group when I was at a conference and that room was part of the tour. I also worked in a lab in graduate school that had similar rooms that were build on their own concrete platform and then had the rest of the building constructed around them. According to my faculty advisor, the best use of those rooms was that he had a previous grad student that would practice on the bagpipes in there.

  59. I’d never seen To Live And Die in LA, so I gave it a shot.
    Better than I’d expected! But still full of 80s cop movie cliches. It’s like The French Connection meets Miami Vice meets Lethal Weapon.

    It blows my mind that anyone thought “Hey, let’s get Wang Chung to score this movie,” but the music is pretty good. The title song is a classic.

    It is amazing to me that movie producers in the 80s thought William L. Peterson was a viable leading man.

  60. A man walked into a bar, sporting a black eye

    The bartender asked what happened.

    The many says, I run a small store with two employees, Mary and Jack. The store is not doing well so I have to let one of my employees go.

    This morning, Mary came in first so I pulled her aside and said, Iā€™m either going to have to lay you or Jack off.

    Hence the black eye

  61. Sunday recap:
    All 3 of us are <100%, so it was a bunch of xmas arts and crafts.

    For the evening viewing, I subjected the family to It's A Wonderful Life. Everyone made it to the end!

    Later on, Tiffany and I started Banshee, made it about 20 minutes into ep 1, then switched over to finally see what all the hype has been about for The Bear. That ep 1 was much better.

    • I prefer The Bishops Wife to IAWL, for a better Jimmy Stewart Xmas movie watch ā€˜The Shop Around the Cornerā€™.

      Iā€™m in a singles group (not about dating) and IAWL gets a lot of flack about Mary in the alt universe being portrayed as miserable being alone and a librarian as if that was a fate worse than death.

  66. To add to the season of jolly, our sole remaining car is in need of serious repair.

    So weā€™re putting band-aids on it and shopping for a new one.

  69. Since my Mam died, every Xmas I buy myself a gift so Iā€™ve got something to mess around with on the day.

    This year I have no idea what to get.

    • We have that exact box cover in our house right now. This is a go-to quick game for us.

      Funny article. Imma guess that whoever wrote that didn’t see one day of the 70s or 80s.

  74. Kitty gets to spend the day at the vet. At 18 years old, a regular checkup means being sedated so they can take blood and urine.

  78. So, the life of a Mangan (in this house, at least) is never dull.

    We pulled the trigger and got a 2024 VW Tiguan yesterday. It’s nice! I haven’t really had time to enjoy it or think much about it yet, but – – woo hoo.

  83. Pimping the latest. Save Ferris!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR5EM-fZqBM&t=140s

    On the latest Support Life And Music SLAM: Music Survival Guide, Jack Mangan and Sheila Unwin, Ed.D. hang with Monique Powell, iconic singer of Save Ferris. They were one of the absolute best of the 90s Ska bands, and they’re still delivering good times and great music today.

    Lyrics reference: Save Ferris

    SLAM bumper: Rich Catino

    ā€œI believe that every person that buys a ticket to a Save Ferris show is precious, and deserves our love and respect.ā€

    ā€œI cared immensely about them, but they didn’t care about me.ā€

    ā€œYou make your own waffles in the morning.ā€

  84. Itā€™s the husbandā€™s birthday today. We had Dairy Queen for lunch, then picked him up a slice of chocolate cake to have with tea later

    • Especially the main score. You know the one.

      I’d hard disagree that anyone knew what they were doing on that movie.

      Except for whoever designed the look of the ships and the robots. Those folks and John Barry were brilliant.

  86. Remember , when you go to Christmas parties, eat food from other peopleā€™s plates.
    Thatā€™s their calories. It doesnā€™t count

  90. So over here in old Blighty (and probably North America), Steven Spielbergā€™s first film Duel is getting a theatrical release. A 4K restored version.

    Unless something else intervenes I will get to see it at the cinema for the first time.

    Of course Iā€ve seen it on tv mutiple times.

    • I fondly recall renting Duel with my dad when video stores were barely a thing. Great memory, great movie. I’d love to catch it in the theater.

  91. Jake was dying. His wife sat by his bedside the whole time.
    As he felt the end was near, he said to his wife weakly, ā€œI need to confessā€

    ā€œShh,ā€ said his wife, ā€œyou have nothing to worry aboutā€

    ā€œNo,ā€ said Jake, shakily, ā€œI must tell you, during our years together I slept with your sister, best friend, sister-in-law, and motherā€¦ā€

    ā€œI know,ā€ said his wife softly, ā€œnow you just lay back in piece and let the poison do its workā€

  92. JW: Le Samourai:

    Another film off the vague list of films I really should get around to watching.

    No happy ending here, itā€™s Melville film after all, but few actors looked cooler than Alain Delon in the 60s.

  95. Iā€™ve been into the old reads lately. I recently read a 1927 novel called We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Apparently it was an inspiration for 1984. The version I read included an afterword by George Orwell

    Now Iā€™m reading a graphic novel called Death Striked: The Emperor of Atlantis based on a 1943 opera written by two prisoners of a Czech concentration camp

    Maybe next Iā€™ll go for something more modern šŸ˜‰

  97. Crap joke for the day;

    A man and womanā€”both married to other peopleā€”get stuck sharing a sleeper cabin on a cross-country train.

    At 1am, the man whispers, ā€œCould you grab me a second blanket? Iā€™m freezing.ā€

    She grins, ā€œIā€™ve got a better idea. Just for tonightā€¦ letā€™s pretend weā€™re married.ā€

    ā€œAwesome!ā€ he says.

    ā€œGreat,ā€ she snapsā€¦ ā€œGet your own f*cking blanket.ā€

    After a pause, he farted.

    • The first time I was able to donate blood (freshman year of college) was a huge event at the university, and they had a giant bin of cassette tapes for donors to take from. I had no idea who Chris Rea was, but really liked the album cover for The Road To Hell. It then became a favorite of mine, although it was my go-to album when I was depressed because, man, is that album ever depressing.

  102. Crap joke for today:

    My wife asked me in a seductive voice if Iā€™d ever seen a crumpled up Ā£20 note.
    I said ā€œNoā€
    She unbuttoned her blouse, reached into her bra and pulled out a crumpled Ā£20 note. I smiled and took it.
    She then asked if Iā€™d ever seen a crumpled up Ā£50 note.
    I said ā€œNoā€
    She pulled up her skirt and removed a crumpled up Ā£50 note from her panties. I smiled and took it. Then she asked me if Iā€™d ever seen Ā£20,000 all crumpled up.
    Excitedly I said ā€œNoā€
    She said ā€œYou better look in the garage thenā€.

  103. A man was having fun at a party when he Shaw this really tall ladder. A sign beside the ladder said, ā€œ$1 to climb the ladder to successā€
    Having spent most of his money on alcohol, the man said, ā€œfuck itā€ and gave one of his last dollars.

    This was a very long ladder and it took a long time to climb, however, after nearly twenty minutes he reached the top where he finds a man in a very expensive suit.
    ā€œWho are you?ā€ Asked the drunk man.

    ā€œCongratulations,ā€ said the man in the suit, ā€œIā€™m Cessā€

  107. Two pretty good jokes from my younger (she got them from a joke book:

    What do pizza and comedy have in common?

    Both can be ruined by a bad delivery.

  110. A woman goes to a tattoo artist and asks him to put Thanksgiving inside one thigh and Christmas inside the other.

    Curious, the tattoo artist asked, ā€œwhy would you want Thanksgiving and Christmas tattooed on you I ever thighs?ā€

    ā€œBecause,ā€ replied the woman, ā€œMy husband always complains thereā€™s nothing good between thanksgiving and Christmas ā€œ

  111. Your crap joke for this evening:

    Two old Jewish men, Sid and Al, are sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles one day. Sid asks Al, “Do you know of any people of our faith born and raised in Mexico?”
    Al replies, “I don’t know, let’s ask our waiter.”
    When the waiter arrives, Al asks, “Are there any Mexican Jews?”
    The waiter says, “I don’t know, Senor, I ask the cooks.”
    He returns from the kitchen a few minutes later and says, “No, Senor, the cook say no Mexican Jews.”
    Al isn’t satisfied and asks, “Are you absolutely sure?”
    The waiter, realizing he is dealing with ‘Gringos,’ replies, “I check once again, Senor.”
    While the waiter is away, Sid says, “I find it hard to believe that there are no Jews in Mexico. Our people are scattered everywhere.”
    The waiter returns and says, “Senor, the head cook say there is no Mexican Jews.”
    Al asks, “Are you certain? I just can’t believe there are no Mexican Jews.”
    The exasperated waiter says, “Senor, I ask EVERYONE… All we have is Orange Jews, Grapefruit Jews, Prune Jews, Apple Jews, and Tomato Jews!”

  112. Bonus crap joke:

    Walked into Best Buy wearing a Star Wars shirt.

    Employee: ā€œAre you a big Star Wars fan?ā€
    Me: ā€œYea!ā€
    Employee: ā€œWhatā€™s the internal temperature of a tauntaun?ā€
    Me, wracking my brain for the right line: ā€œUhhhhhā€¦idk that one.ā€
    Employee: ā€œLukewarm.ā€

  114. A dog and a cat were arguing over which people love more.

    The dog said, “I can prove people love dogs more. They like us so much they named a body part after us.” He points to his teeth, “They have canine teeth.”

    The cat just looks at him and says, “Yeah, you’re not going to win this argument.”

  115. A dog and a cat were arguing over which people love more.

    The dog said, ā€œI can prove people love dogs more. They like us so much they named a body part after us.ā€ He points to his teeth, ā€œThey have canine teeth.ā€

    The cat just looks at him and says, ā€œYeah, youā€™re not going to win this argument.ā€A dog and a cat were arguing over which people love more.

    The dog said, ā€œI can prove people love dogs more. They like us so much they named a body part after us.ā€ He points to his teeth, ā€œThey have canine teeth.ā€

    The cat just looks at him and says, ā€œYeah, youā€™re not going to win this argument.ā€

    • Why did it repeat the punch line? That’s just silly.

      Note: I did something wrong the first time I typed this and the comment was “awaiting moderation”. Instead of retyping it, I copied from the previous. Obviously I screwed up my copy/paste

  116. Another crap joke:

    A farmer was sitting in the neighborhood bar getting drunk. A man came in and asked the farmer, ā€œHey, why are you sitting here on this beautiful day, getting drunk?ā€

    The farmer shook his head and replied, ā€œSome things you just canā€™t explain.ā€

    ā€œSo what happened thatā€™s so horrible?ā€ the man asked as he sat down next to the farmer.

    ā€œWell,ā€ the farmer said, ā€œToday I was sitting by my cow, milking her. Just as I got the bucket full, she lifted her left leg and kicked over the bucket.ā€

    ā€œOkay,ā€ said the man, ā€œbut thatā€™s not so bad.ā€

    ā€œSome things you just canā€™t explain,ā€ the farmer replied.

    ā€œSo what happened then?ā€ the man asked.

    The farmer said, ā€œI took her left leg and tied it to the post on the left.ā€

    ā€œAnd then?ā€ the man asked.

    ā€œWell, I sat back down and continued to milk her. Just as I got the bucket full, she took her right leg and kicked over the bucket.ā€

    The man laughed and said, ā€œAgain?ā€

    The farmer replied, ā€œSome things you just canā€™t explain.ā€

    ā€œSo, what did you do then?ā€ the man asked.

    ā€œI took her right leg this time and tied it to the post on the right.ā€

    ā€œAnd then?ā€

    ā€œWell, I sat back down and began milking her again. Just as I got the bucket full, the stupid cow knocked over the bucket with her tail.ā€

    ā€œHmmm,ā€ the man said and nodded his head.

    ā€œSome things you just canā€™t explain,ā€ the farmer said.

    ā€œSo, what did you do?ā€ the man asked.

    ā€œWell,ā€ the farmer said, ā€œI didnā€™t have any more rope, so I took off my belt and tied her tail to the rafter. In that moment, my pants fell down and my wife walked in..

    Some things you just canā€™t explain.ā€

  122. Type into google ā€œwomen areā€ and see what it wants to fill in. For some reason, the second choice when I did it was ā€œnot little menā€

    Now I want to know who goggled that in the first place for it to come up

  124. If you don’t know, Martinelli’s is sparkling non-alcoholic juice that comes in glass wine bottles. We have it at every family holiday meal.

    I was sorely tempted to take a bottle to drink in the car as I drove my eldest daughter home tonight, but I didn’t want to spend an hour at a DUI stop over it.

  126. Merry day after Christmas, all! To my Deadpan Secret Santa – thank you!!! I don’t know if I mentioned it here or on Facebook, but the GameStop-exclusive Strahd was the one Funko Pop I really wanted. I haven’t been that excited about a Christmas present since I was a little kid! šŸ˜€

    • 1. I had no idea there was a FunkoPop Strahd (but of course there is).
      2. This is the most endearing post of the week.

      I’m already excited for Deadpan Secret Santa 2026.

      • Aww, that’s great! Thank you! And yes, he was a GameStop exclusive in 2021, I think. He’s supposed to be getting a new FunkoPop design soon, but the new design annoys me because Funko’s designers show him turning into a swarm of bats. Apparently, they aren’t aware that D&D-verse vampires can only turn into a singular bat. :silly:

        Tonight I’m working on Curse of Strahd fanart as a present for one of my local writer friends. I also drew Star Trek fanart as a present for my dad, which I sent off today. The rest of my cards and letters will be sent out in the next week.

  127. So watched Excalibur for the first time tonight.

    Not too shabby for a 1981 fantasy film.

    A bit of googling revealed that the bit of classical music itā€™s famous for was used in Old Spice adverts in the 70s. I already knew that but had not known they preceded the film.

    • I must confess, I was also shocked when I saw your post about seeing Excalibur for the first time.

      It’s still the standard for a cinematic portrayal of the King Arthur story, IHMO.

  130. In case you were wonderingā€¦
    One of the hot things with the kids right now is MP3 players.
    Specifically ones that look just like the old iPods but with modern insides and connectivity and open source software (maybe?).
    Both of my kids have them.

    Go figure

      • My early Commodore 64 days used a standard cassette player that we had to manually hit the play button on to load programs from.

        Eventually, we were able to get the fancy Commodore version that was able to be controlled automatically from the C64 itself. We were living in tall cotton then, my friend!

        • My neighbor friend had a VIC-20 with a cassette drive. We could save programs to it, but it was possible that we could write lines of code that exceeded its memory limitations. Maybe six pages of code. LOL

  131. So leaving the cinema today, lost my balance on the stairs and fell on my ass, which was lucky cos if I had fell forward it would have been down the stairs and I would probably have done some serious damage to my self. Thankfully two other people helped me to get back up but a reminder how easy it is to mess up, especially as you get older.

    Not looking forward to tomorrow as my back is going to be sore.

  132. A man walks into a barber shop and asks, how long for a hair cut

    The barber looks at the full shop and says, about two hours

    A few days later the same man walks into the barbershop and asks, how long for a haircut?

    The barber looks at his shop and says, about three hours later.

    A few days go by and the same man comes in and again asked, how long for a hair cut

    This time the barber says, about an hour and a half

    After the man leaves, the barber looks to his assistant and says, hey, can you follow that man? He keeps asking about a haircut but then never comes back. I want to know what his deal is.

    So the assistant leaves and the. Comes back a short while later
    So? Asks the barber, where does he go?

    The assistant replies, your place

    • I muss confess, many of those “wrong ways” I wasn’t even aware were ways people did things.

      Though, I’m still not putting deodorant on before I go to bed, that’s just weird.

  137. My Goodreads year in review says I read 75 books in 2025. Since some of them were graphic novels only 25 pages long, not sure if that number really counts.

  139. One of the Xmas gifts was the Sky Team board game. We’ve failed to land in our first 3 attempts. Once out of having no idea what we’re doing, once out of a miscommunication that’s part of the game mechanics, once because we couldn’t roll a single “4” on 3 dice in the Landing Round.

    I saw some negative reviews, but we’re really liking it so far.

    • It’s rated 4.8 out 5 on Amazon. Sounds cool. This year, we dialed back the number of board games because we still have around 6 in shrink wrap, and we haven’t gotten around to playing them. I did get my son “Heat” which we played the basic version of. It was a lot of fun, if a little daunting, to get started. We’ve begun to collect simple games to play if we don’t have the energy to play a complicated one. Last year, “Skull” was a hit, and we played it more than any other. This year, “Trio” looks to be the winner.

  142. They moved our mailboxes today. We were told it would happen, just not when. The problem is, it wasn’t moved to where I was told it would be. I ran into a Canada Post employee inspecting the new mailboxes. He went through his sheet and couldn’t find my house number. He is contacting his supervisor and they will phone me to tell me where my mail is.
    *sigh*

  145. Closing out 2025 with some good news. I’ve accepted an offer for an unpaid board position on a local music and film charity. That’ll be an extra way to do some good in 2026!

  146. ā€œAnd I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.ā€ – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

  148. And, with that, Stranger Things is done. No spoilers from me.

    Overall, while this last season was pretty uneven, I found the finale pretty satisfying. I appreciated that we spent a good bit of time after the resolution spending time with what happens to everyone afterwards. Too many stories have the good guys beat the villain and then … credits.

  154. We were also pleased with the Stranger Things finale. Overall, it’s been a fun ride.

    I’d eventually like to redo it from the beginning.

  155. About 20 or so of my Operation Winter Wave packets were just put in the mail. Van, I like you too much to make you pay import duties on a little shipping envelope like that, so you’ll get the card and letter (eventually), but not the mask. Sorry. Still love you all <3

  157. Question – – mainly for Bunny because of her background in publishing – – but anyone can chime in.

    If I buy an ebook from Amazon, and then the author updates it, do I automatically get their updates in the book in my Kindle app? Or do I have to take some kinda action to see the changes?

  158. So, is the US now actually at war with Venezuela?
    (Even if itā€™s not ā€œofficialā€)
    It seems, kidnapping its president might mean such

  161. In less dystopian news: Iā€™ve started watching an amazing documentary called ā€œ1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever,ā€ which is just loaded with commentary and facts about the incredible movies that came out that year. Poltergeist, ET, Blade Runner, Wrath of Khan, The Thing, Tron, Megaforceā€¦

    The point is made early on: these movies were so great because there were lots of big studios who were willing to take chances. Now there are a small number of big studios who will only ever greenlight safe products.

    I highly recommend, even before Iā€™ve finished watching.

  163. Itā€™s frankly disturbing how many people on social media want to start WW3 with the hope that none of the Russians and Chinese ICBMs would actually work.

  169. Crazy times, indeed. All fevers break, but if they’re bad enough, they sometimes do permanent damage before they’re done.

    Stay safe, centered, and hopeful, my friends.

  170. Hey Ed, I got your Christmas letter today. I see it was postmarked December 10th. That should tell you something about our two countries šŸ˜›

  173. I did just record one of my all-time favorite interviews… The guy was 15 minutes late – – I thought for sure I’d been ghosted, but then he appeared in the Zoom window.

    Someone I think will be appreciated round these parts.

  174. Good news! I got a proof copy in the mail for Dread Spherical!
    Bad news: There are some serious formatting issues. I believe it’s on their end, but there are some missteps that I personally **could** have made. IDK.

    Even with the issues, it looks great. If some madman destroys all of civilization, I can at least say I have a copy of my Tomi book in print.

    • On a related note, I noticed October 31 was the last podcast version I have downloaded. Are you not uploading them any more?

      • I had no idea :-/ Shame on me.

        I’ve left the audio uploads to someone else, so I’ve been focused on YouTube.

        I just uploaded episode 37 – – which is your episode. I’ll see about bumping the rest and getting us caught up.

  179. Your crap joke for the day:

    A man is in his boat out on the lake with a bucket full of fish that he had just caught. A wildlife officer spots him and pulls his boat up alongside. Seeing the bucket of fish in the man’s boat, the wildlife officer asks to see his fishing license.
    The man tells the officer that he doesn’t need a fishing license.
    The wildlife officer looks down at the bucket and says “You definitely need a license to be catching fish, I can see that you’ve been fishing today. You have live fish right there.”
    The man says “Oh no, those are my pet fish. I just brought them out here for the day to enjoy the lake.”
    “Pet fish?” Replied the wildlife officer.
    “Oh absolutely, I let them out of the bucket and they swim around and play, but when I whistle they all jump right back in. They are very well trained.”
    The wildlife officers scratches his chin, then says. “I’ve never heard such a thing. Well, I’ve got to see this!”
    The man dumps the bucket of fish into the lake, then calmly turns and looks at the wildlife officer.
    The wildlife officer says, “Well, call them back.”
    The man says “Call who back?”
    The wild life officer says, “Your pet fish.”
    “What fish?!” replied the man.

  182. I watched One Battle After Another over the course of 2 nights… Not fully what I expected. I 100% get why it’s Oscar-bait and will likely win a few trophies, but – – I didn’t love it.

    You should watch and decide for yourself. Every single actor is wonderful in their roles. There are lots of things to recommend, but also lots of WTF elements.

  183. IMPORTANT

    Ryah and I talked about scheduling another Zoom MMMmmmeetup. Who’s in to do an hour of silliness and kvetching? Maybe in February?

  184. So itā€™s been 40 years since Labyrinth was released. Watched it for the first time all the way through at the cinema tonight.

    An early role Jennifer Connolly and she was a better actor than Bowie.

    • The trailers were a bit misleading as to the type of story you’d get. But overall, we enjoyed the story. It was more thoughtful than we expected.

  195. So the secret film at the cinema tonight was Rental Family, Brendan Fraser playing an actor who is paid to pretend to be family members in Japan.

    Enjoyed it.

  197. I had an interview guest cancel last-minute today, saying there was an ICE situation in their neighborhood.

    I hope future generations learn from the history we’re writing, since too few learned from what was written for us.

    • The “he was never funny” backlash is amusing. There was a time when Dilbert was hilarious, relatable, and a force for good. I lost touch with the comic about 10 years ago, so I don’t know when it “stopped being funny,” or if it ever did.

      It is a shame that his legacy will be less about Dilbert, and more about what a shitty person he became. His cancer announcement contained a personal dig at Joe Biden, FFS. Not a statement about perceived world issues caused by the Biden Admin – – a potshot at Biden himself. May none of us ever become that lost.

      • I lost touch with Dilbert and Scott Adams before any of the controversy. But I definitely have a hard time with the “he was never funny” BS. Sounds too much like people trying to justify something. Scott Adams, from what I understand now, was (or became) an asshole. No arguments there. But Dilbert was funny as hell. There is no denying that. The humor was there.

    • The tragedy of Kent State woke a lot of people up. My hope is that this tragedy will do the same. The real test is the midterms. Will the cheetio in charge cancel elections over some invented “voter fraud conspiracy,” and if so, will Congress kick him to the curb as a clear violation of the Constitution? I don’t know. But it will decide where I spend the rest of my residency.

  203. Well for three consecutive evenings from Friday I will be watching the extended editions of the LOTR movies at the cinema.

    My bladder and backside will be sorely tested.

    • That’s like 12hours of LOTR in 3 days! You’ll be speaking Elvish by the end of it.

      Sounds fantastic. I assume they’ll have intermissions.

  204. A friend bought a t-shirt from Temu with a Newcastle Brown Ale logo on the front.

    He then started pointing out the mistakes compared to the real logo on brown ale bottles.

    I took his word for it as I havenā€™t held a bottle of the stuff in decades.

  205. JW: Starfleet Academy E1

    Didnā€™t hate it, Paul Giamatti is shaping up to be a fun scenery chewing villain.

    Made the mistake of looking at comments in threads, a lot of hatred for chunky people in the cast.

  209. My social media annoyance today is people saying about a show ā€œitā€™s not aimed at meā€.

    Like I need a show aimed at a fat almost 60
    Year old bloke to actually enjoy anything.

    Grrrrr!

    • I’ve used that description for movies and shows before. I don’t expect things to be tailored to me or my preferences. To me it means that I recognize that something is well made, but that I still didn’t like it. This is opposed to my saying that something was poorly executed. It just wasn’t something I’m into.

  211. I’m seeing all the expected responses to Kathleen Kennedy’s departure as Star Wars chief.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9y3y292l5o

    I think some bad decisions were made during her tenure, but I also doubt if the blame lies solely with her.

    Dave Filoni is the best choice to be her successor. He’s well-suited to the role, and will also likely see less pushback from execs who don’t respect the material, except as a moneymaker.

  213. Well there was no intermission, my backside is sore but I enjoyed seeing the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring tonight.

    • I too also as well share your obsession with MST3K. Big news indeed as it looks like Joel is fully stepping away. I’m glad that Shout! is still in the mix (as part of the merged company) and there is some hopeful talk of continuation in there. I really hope we continue to get some new content and they don’t just want to distribute what already exists.

  216. So there is a new series on the Peacock streaming service called Ponies, itā€™s about two widows of two CIA personnel that go back to Russian in the the 70s to spy for the CIA and try to find out what happened their husbands.

    Watched the first two episodes and enjoying the series so far.

      • Great song. Heā€™d been swimming in groupies while he was married to Lisa Bonet. The Neneh Cherry song, ā€œBuddy Xā€ calls him out on it. Lisa Bonet found out and left him, so a bunch of songs on this album were trying to get her back.
        They became friends again – – it was Lisa who cut off his dreadlocks – – but she never took him back.

  218. So to sum up: my older daughter comes by today for board games and dinner. Then we do big family stuff for a few days. Then I have huge SLAM stuff going on, in big push to make this thing work, without me needing to go back to corporate.
    Meanwhile, my mom had a terrible day yesterday and is actually open to a permanent or temp assisted living facility. She doesnā€™t require me onsite atm, but I need to be ready to go back there at any time.
    And oh yeah, the hostile fascist takeover of my country is ramping up its intensity.

    And as soon as my artist gets back to me with my cover, Iā€™m going to put Dread Spherical up for presale.

    Iā€™ve got my hands full, fam.

      • Greatly appreciated! I will let you know.

        I will also pop in here as often as possible, but this upcoming week looks to be even busier than usual.

    • I especially sympathize on the front with your mom. I moved my mom close to me in Florida about 3 years ago when her husband passed away and watched her health decline steadily and then very suddenly at the end before losing her a few months ago. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my life. I am super happy that your mom is open to assisted living. Mine was not and I think she would have wound up being far more happy there.

      Also seriously hope you manage to keep the SLAM stuff going without needing to go back to a corporate gig. Hearing how excited you were to get into SLAM and away from the grind when you first started was fantastic. I hope it gets to stay exciting for you.

      • So sorry, JF. For you and the whole family. That must have been really hard.

        My mother has also been stubborn about assisted living. I donā€™t know how open she is to it. Sheā€™s currently in the hospital in NJ. Itā€™s going to be a turbulent year. Even for me.

        • My mom had a hard time getting the distinction between assisted living and nursing home. It was all nursing home in her mind.

          If you need to vent to someone that get’s what you’re going through, I’m always available.

  220. JW: Return of the King.

    Well the last LOTR film has been put to bed.

    Although Iā€™ve had the extended editions on DVD for ages Iā€™ve not watched them at home or the cinema till this weekend. Anyway great films and even though the third film was almost a hour longer than the theatrical release, it didnā€™t feel that much longer. Even the multiple endings didnā€™t feel onerous this time.

    • We own the Extended DVDs. Itā€™s really the only way to watch them. For the Mouth of Sauron, if nothing else.
      The theatrical cuts were great for the first viewings, of course.

  223. If I said, Iā€™m glad I live in a (semi) socialist country which doesnā€™t have a leader whoā€™s insane, would that be mean?

  228. Did ā€œUltimate Jam Nightā€ at the Whisky. Itā€™s a tiny place. And wow, thatā€™s comedian Hal Sparks up there singing Cheap Trick and Spinal Tap songs.

  234. Crazy night. I met so many amazing musicians at the Metal Hall of Fame gala. The biggest surprise was Rockwell. Rockwell!

    My friends sang his ā€œSomebodyā€™s Watching Meā€ song at him. So embarrassing.

  239. In the unhappier side of thingsā€¦ Things are still uncertain on the east coast, but – – it still isnā€™t time for me to go back there.

    Feels like the time is coming soon, though. Hoping Iā€™m wrong.

      • Agreed. I’ve not watched a lot of his stuff (mostly this and Blade Runner that I can think of) and I’ve not had issues with his acting.

        • I think a lot of people take issue with him for being weird and difficult IRL. (I’m not speaking for you, Van. Your beef with him may be elsewhere).

          I have not seen all of his roles, but what I’ve seen has always been good. He won an Oscar, FFS.

  245. Itā€™s been an amazing week of music and connections at NAMM. Tomorrow I go back to the real world. It will be wonderful being with family again and giving skritches to the cat and dog. The rest I can do without.

  246. Crap joke for a Sunday morning:

    A ship sinks and three men are together in a lifeboat; a priest, a marine biologist and a lawyer.

    After several days floating aimlessly, they see a small islandā€¦ but they don’t seem to be getting any closer to it.

    They decide that someone needs to get into the water and tow the boat.

    There are some ominous-looking triangular fins in the water.

    The biologist says that he thinks they’re not a particularly agressive species, so he climbs into the water and starts to swim ā€” but the sharks immediately head for the boat, so he clambers back in.

    After a while, the priest says: ā€œGod will provide” and climbs into the water. Again, the sharks head for the boat, and he escapes by a hair.

    Finally, the lawyer says: ā€œLeave it to me” and gets into the water.

    The sharks head for the boat, but he stays in the water, despite the others urging him to climb aboard.

    Expecting carnage, the two in the boat are amazed when the sharks form two ranks and escort the boat to the beach.

    The biologist says ā€œThat’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen! I’ll get a major paper out of this!ā€

    The priest says ā€œIt’s a miracle!ā€

    ā€œNo,ā€ says the lawyer, ā€œJust professional courtesy.ā€

  247. Thereā€™s a a good animated series on AppleTV called Wondla, it came out in 2021 and I just discovered this year.

    Anyway Eva, who grew up in a bunker cared after by a robotic Muthr, escapes to the outside world and discovers a devastated Earth has been colonised by aliens and a new eco system. Itā€™s really well done.

  251. My own advice:
    Make art, enjoy art, find little reasons to laugh, cherish the time with your loved ones. Stay vigilant. Stay as informed as you need to. Boycott appropriately. Live. Protect yourself. And yes, protect victims and the vulnerable, however you can.

    Dont overdo it on news. Donā€™t look at pro-fascist news sources. Donā€™t doomscroll. Donā€™t argue with people online. Donā€™t scrutinize videos of atrocities. Donā€™t excuse, justify, or support any of this.

  255. Crap joke for the day:

    I visited my new doctor today..

    “Hello there.” She said, “what seems to be the problem?”

    “It’s one of my testicles.” I replied. “It’s not normal.”

    “Oh, I’m sorry!” She snapped. “Are you a doctor?”

    “Err, no.” I stammered.

    “Did you spend over twelve years in medical school?”

    “I didn’t.”

    “Are these YOUR degrees and licences framed on MY wall, in MY office?”

    “They aren’t.”

    “Exactly!” She spat. “I’M the only doctor in this room. I’M the only one in this room qualified to determine if your testicle is ‘not normal’ or not. Do you agree?”

    “Err..”

    “Do. You. AGREE?”

    “Yes.” I responded, sheepishly.

    “Okay, good.” She said, slightly calmer. “Now we’ve sorted that out, which testicle is it?”

    “The middle one.”ļæ¼

  258. Found on FB:
    “If rrump is no longer able to stay in power, the same forces that elevated him will push their next useful idiot to the front. Thatā€™s what makes this moment so dangerous. Because while everyone keeps watching rrump, the machine behind him is still moving. And itā€™s already preparing for what comes next. This isnā€™t to say rrump is any less dangerous or any less evil. He is. And at this point, he could very well be thrilled with all of P 2025ā€”especially during his more lucid moments. But we need to remember there are others still building, still scheming, still laying the foundation for a permanent, post-democratic America. And they donā€™t need rrump to finish the job. They just need enough silence from the rest of us to get away with it.”

    • I am quite fortunate to live near by. I managed to snag a “Feel The Heat” ticket for $250 that puts me at the Saturn V building on the Kennedy Space Center complex (3.5 miles from the launch pad). I was also able to go last Sunday (I have an annual pass) and get some good pictures of the Artemis II on the launch pad. Just have to see when they actually launch. This Friday evening I’ll be hanging out with one of the engineers that will be in the control room. Hopefully he can give me a more up to date leaning towards or leaning away from Feb 6th. He’s retiring after this launch so I know he’s really keen on it happening Feb 6th and not later.

  262. CW: Wonder Man E2

    Unlike previous Marvel films and tv series I have zero knowledge of the comic character but enjoying the series so far.

  264. Tried to post this yesterday but the browser wouldnā€™t let me. Will try again today. –
    +++++++

    Back home guys.
    Antartica – just wow! All those years of watching National Geographic specials with my family I never dreamed Iā€™d be going down there. In a lot of ways, it felt like being space travelers landing on another planet. Other than oxygen, everything we needed to stay alive through the night had to be brought down with us. Also, penguins are the cutest thing ever! seals are pretty chill. And whales! Oh the whales! They are just living life LARGE.

    I donā€™t have a readily accessible place on-line to post pics or I would be bombarding you with them.

    Then there was Peru with the Incas and Manchu Pichu.
    Itā€™s easy to forget that just because a culture had none of our modern technology, they still had their geniuses.

      • Definately a bucket list thing.
        Plus I picked up a new skill – climbing from a zodiac into and back out of an Ocean Kayak.
        Donā€™t know when that will come in handy again but if needs be, Iā€™m your guy!

        Also – Machu Pichu
        Lots of steep steps to climb at a questionable altitude. Easier to do when your young.
        Going slow, I was able to navigate it without much difficulty but there were some late 60ā€™s folks who (though clearly adventurous people) should not have been on that trip and were not enjoying it.

      • I was able to download and watch the video…didn’t even have to create an Apple account either, thankfully.

        Penguin cool.

        Those snazzy red coats – I assume those were provided as part of the excursion?

        • Viking has really put thought into this.
          There is a reason why Norwegianā€˜s were the first ones to successfully get to either pole and pretty much established footholds in every other part of the world. Theyā€™ve got this traveling thing down.
          They provided (we purchased) an insulated inner jacket and the snazzy red over jacket, that was warm and waterproof and had a BRIGHT yellow hood- easier for the rescue cruise to find you I guess.
          Then on the ship, they provided you with waterproof, pullover pants and waterproof boots that came up almost to your knees.

          The rooms also came equipped with a little drying closet for all of this gear

      • Link and video definitely worked for me. I like how the penguin is just ignoring you and then pulls a “Oh, hi Mark” and starts heading your way.

        • Right?
          Turns out that on land, these penguins have no predators so theyā€™re not afraid of us.
          They are somewhat curious though but really theyā€™re just too busy to bother with us. They have a lot of waddling to do to get to the krill so they can waddle back to the nest and throw up in their youngā€™s mouth.

          We were instructed to try and keep 15ā€™ From them and if one approaches , try and back away. Also, they have their own paths but if one comes down a human path, they have the right of way.

          Viking really does try and observe a ā€œprime directiveā€ in Antarctica.

  268. Last night I had coffee with a friend from my last company. She said the place is in freefall, with layoffs and chaos all over the place. There have been a few leadership changes, and the new guys are being transparent about numbers. Lo and behold, the collapse began two years ago, when the toxic management team took over – – the ones that led to me my decision to leave and focus on SLAM.

    Has there been any accountab – -? Sorry, I couldn’t finish typing that without laughing.

    TL;DR: vindication for my decision.

  270. I checked last year’s Deadpan comment thread. It may be a little vain to quote myself, but it’s interesting to see how this has aged:

    “Most of us will survive the horrors that are coming. Maybe even all of us. Donā€™t despair, donā€™t overload on the back-to-back terrible headlines. Stay as informed as you need to, but donā€™t dwell on the evils. Be prepared to flee or resist if it becomes necessary, but also continue to live your life and enjoy the things and people that make you happy. The bullies in charge are going to steal as much dignity and money from us as they can, so maintain your composure. Hold on to every bit of yourself that you can. Donā€™t let them steal the things that matter most.”

    • A number of decent people have not survived, so that’s the worst. I stand by the rest of it.
      Decent people managed to live full and happy lives in Soviet Russia, in spite of everything (while some awful people were having a great time). That’s where we are now.

    • The Tyrel building is amazing to see at scale!
      It also make sense. To build something 700 floors high, a wide based pyramid would be quite advantageous.
      Along those lines the same should be applied to a space elevator. Rather than some big, spindly structure, easily sabotage, have it installed at the center of a much larger wider building.
      Just philosophizing here.

  276. Wow.
    Was just talking to my friend whose wife is still upper management at NASA.
    So it used to be that as a civil employee,they couldnā€™t fire you without ā€œcauseā€, which involved a review and evidence. This had its drawbacks because it made it hard to get rid of bad employees, but also avoided a lot of firing due to grudges and personality conflicts.
    Well.
    Theyā€™ve now added a clause saying that you can be fired for insubordination to a superior, which includes Trump. Which means if you exercise your First Amendment rights and say anything negative about the man, they can now fire you from NASA. This includes social media posts.
    Welcome to 1980s Soviet rule.

  278. Well after one book about a magical coffee shop in Japan, Iā€™ve reserved a different book from the library app that is also about a coffee shop in Japan.

    There are cats.

    What have I become?

  279. Took the eldest daughter to see Iron Lung last night. Itā€™s apparently the number 1 movie of th weekend? Itā€™s Markiplierā€™s movie, which is why she was interested.

    I spent 2 hours not knowing what the hell was happening. Iā€™d never played the game, but idk if it would have helped.

    Even so, it was not a terrible viewing experience. What I could gather of the premise was interesting. Itā€™s a well-made b-movie.

  285. Taking my Boo out for her birthday lunch. She usually chooses a restaurant we never go to because they are stupidly expensive. Last year it was over $200 for the two of us and neither one of us drank. Iā€™m afraid to see what itā€™s going to cost me this year

  287. For those that did not follow Jacks BuzzFeed link.
    Here is # 20 on the list-

    “A teenage boy is getting ready to take his girlfriend to the prom. First, he goes to rent a tux, but thereā€™s a long tux line at the shop, and it takes forever. Next, he has to get some flowers. He heads over to the florist, and thereā€™s a huge flower line there. He waits forever, but eventually gets the flowers. Then he heads out to rent a limo. Unfortunately, thereā€™s a large limo line at the rental office. But heā€™s patient and gets the job done. Finally, the day of prom comes. The two are dancing happily, and his girlfriend is having a great time. When the song is over, she asks him to get her some punch. He heads over to the punch table, and thereā€™s no punchline.”

  290. My mom is the queen of sending text messages that are innocuous until the last sentence where she drops some bomb of information that is incomplete out of the blue and meant to cause you to freak out. Example might be ā€“
    ā€œHi. Great to hear you made it home.
    Will call you after youā€™ve had a chance to rest.
    Finally got the collar off the dog after the radiation to subsided.ā€

    You.
    Radiation?!! Why/how/where!
    Why did the collar need to come off of the dog?
    YOU DONT HAVE A DOG!

  292. Ah, the olympics. This is the time when the husband has the tv on CBC nonstop

    CW Canadian curling (note: this was actually live earlier but we were busy so weā€™re watching reruns

    • My youngest skates at the rink in Boston where many of the U.S. figure skaters train.
      They gave me the scoop this morning on who/what to watch for in these games in that sport.
      If anyone is interested i could share.

  294. Last week I went to an art exhibit called – ā€œDays of Punkā€
    Here is the blurb.
    ā€œDays of Punk, an iconic photography exhibition by acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Michael Grecco.ā€œ

    While there were some notable names that were not covered, I felt it was a pretty good overview of the scene and was a good primer for the youngsters.
    And yes, all the other patrons were younger than me and yes, the comments I overheard did make me cringe.

    • Shown on photos or names were:
      The Cramps
      The Sex Pistols
      Dead Kennedys
      Lene Lovich
      The Clash
      The Ramones
      Tom Tom club
      Talking heads
      Public image limited
      Clash
      Siouxsie and the Banshees
      The Plasmatics
      The slits
      Joan Jett
      Elvis Costello
      Generation X
      Billy Idol
      Le Peste
      Buzzcocks
      Gang Green
      The fabulous Billygoons

      Listed as ā€œpost punkā€
      Adam ant
      B-52s
      Devo
      Killing Joke
      Polyrock
      Ministry
      Love and Rockets
      Bow wow wow
      Human Sexual Response
      Human League
      Big Country
      Fingerprints

      Listed as ā€œnew wave/cross overā€
      Big Country
      David Bowie
      The Del Fuegos
      Squeeze
      Nick Lowe
      Face to face
      The Neighborhoods
      TIL Tuesday
      The Motels

    • I will add that the guy who curated this exhibition grew up in Boston and that is where most of his documented experience came from.
      Apparently that was a hotbed for the early punk movement.
      Who knew?

  296. So I saw Nouvelle Vague at the cinema today, Richard Linklaterā€™s latest flick.

    Itā€™s a comedy drama about Jean-Luc Godard shooting his first full length film and it was great.

    On Netflix in North America.

  299. If you approached a MAGA conservative and said, I have only all gender washrooms in my home, do you think they would figure it out, or will they blow a gasket?

  300. Dread Spherical proof #2 arrived today.* It’s really really close to ready. TBH: I’d ship it, but I’m going to honor my cover designer’s wishes to do one more set of tweaks.

    *Proof 1 was a mess, due to my errors.

  301. I guy walks into a bar and sees three pieces of meat hanging from the ceiling.
    He asks the bartender, whatā€™s with the meat?

    The bartender says, Itā€™s a thing we do here. If you can jump and hit one of the pieces, youā€™ll get free drinks for the evening. If you miss, youā€™ll pay for drinks for the whole bar.

    The guy thinks for a moment and says, Nah, the steaks are too high

  302. So it appears a woman having a library card is a now a red flag to some men on twitter/threads when it comes to dating.

    Iā€™ll jut go and pick up my eyes that have rolled into the corner.

  303. I just posted the following on Facebook:

    We lost Lenore Mangan today.
    May 31, 1942 – February 7, 2026.

    She loved ice cream, cats, animals, her pets, her children, her grandchildren, her parents, her sisters, her extended family, her house, her friends, puzzles, baking, cookies, awful mystery paperbacks, Oldies music, flea markets, antiquing, shopping, kitschy house decorations, sending care packages, visiting Arizona, wandering around Old Town Scottsdale, and more.

    I can trace many of the things I like best about myself and my children directly back to her.

    Our hearts are broken.

    She resented the limits of her age and her illnesses. Weā€™re grateful to the close friends who looked after her during her final days. Hereā€™s hoping sheā€™s moved on to find peace and happiness.

    More details to come.

  306. Thanks, everyone.

    I will be sharing info soon about the funeral, just not in a public place. My sister and I are also discussing maybe doing a celebration of life for her in the summer.

    Obviously, I don’t expect or need anyone from this community to participate (thinking back. . . I think Leann and Charlie the [former] Beer Guy are the only Deadpan people who ever met her), I just want to make sure it’s available to any and all friends.

    • Late to seeing this. My deepest condolences. We lost my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and it’s still troubling for my wife, so I know this is not going to be an easy nor short process. Even though we’re all adults, I don’t think any of us are really prepared for the emotions that will come when our parents pass. I’m certainly not ready.

    • Appalling. I dug a little deeper… It does seem like he had a terrible reputation for being a self-centered prick.
      Ugh. I’d never heard any of that.

  312. Crap joke for the evening:

    Bert is 99 years old. On his birthday the local TV station decide that as the oldest resident of the town, it would be nice to interview him for the local news program at 6pm.
    They arrive at his house, and as itā€™s a nice summer evening, they set up the cameras on his veranda and start filming ..
    The reporter introduces Bert as the ā€˜oldest resident in town and opens up with his first question..
    ā€˜So Bert, youā€™re 99 years of age..
    Whatā€™s your secret?ā€™ļæ¼
    Bert replies ā€œwhen I was 16, I gave the local pastor a hand job in exchange for a beerā€
    The reporter said ā€œno.. longevityā€
    Bert said ā€˜sorry, plenty of fruit and vegetablesā€™ļæ¼

      • I was unaware – – of his sickness or his struggles. I can’t claim to have been a fan of his big show, but I appreciated him as the voice of the dad in the Vampirina show.
        This is terrible terrible news. Fuck cancer and fuck the American medical system.

  324. Your crap science joke for the evening;

    Heisenberg is speeding down the highway with Schrƶdinger in the passenger seat when they get pulled over. the cop walks up and says ‘sir, do you have any idea how fast you were going?’ heisenberg says ‘no, but i know exactly where i am.’ the cop says ‘you were doing 80 in a 55!’ heisenberg throws up his hands and says ‘great! now i’m lost!’ annoyed, the officer decides to search the car. he comes back and says ‘did you know there’s a dead cat in the trunk?’ Schrƶdinger says ‘well i do now!’

  327. The husband and I have strange discussions. This morning we were trying to decide if Cat Woman has the sexual cycles of a cat or a person. Does she go into heat regularly?

    • I think Iā€™m one of the few people that couldnā€™t get into the series. I read one book and went, meh, it was ok.
      I didnā€™t dislike the book, it just didnā€™t grab me enough to read another

  333. CW: Frequency

    Damn this is good, I loved it when I saw it at the cinema and Iā€™m loving watching it tonight.

    Just a pity Caviezel such a nutter these days and Quaid is MAGA.

    But separate the art from the artist right?

  335. Here in Canada, if your books are in libraries, you will get a small commission from the government each time one is checked out (to a yearly maximum for all titles).
    Registration of your titles happens at this time of year. It took a moment but my books have been registered at the public lending rights.

  336. I am still mad at Robert Duvall for choosing Days of Thunder over Godfather III.

    RIP. I hope heā€™s remembered for all of his great roles, and not just for his napalm quote.

  338. It seems to be getting colder as the day goes on. It was -21 with the wind chill at 4am, -27 at 6am, and is now -29. Isnā€™t it supposed to get warmer as the day goes on?

  342. Itā€™s not nearly as cold here as it is for Ryah, but there is snow everywhere. And a bunch of snow in the forecast.

    And lawd, this house is full of knickknacks and crap. And memories.

  344. Ok an opinionated Friend who lived in Ohio thinks butter (Lima) beans are not a staple of everyday cuisine.

    What say you North American deadpanites?

    • My mother used to be fond of Succotash (corn and lima beans). I hate lima beans. I would say it could be a matter of me not wanting to eat them, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw anyone serve them or saw them on the menu at any restaurant.

      • Agreed.

        I suppose there are some areas and demographics where it might be a staple, but I really doubt it. It would have to be a dominant part of their diet, and for lima beans, it just isn’t a staple for North America. I would say corn is a staple. Even if we considered beans in general, I’m not sure that would qualify as a staple for most people.

        • I like lima beans, the husband does not. We therefore don’t have them unless he’s away which, now that he’s retired, is not very often.

          You used to find them in frozen mixed vegetables all the time but I don’t have those much so I don’t know if they are still in there.

        • My mother used to make them with some regularity, but I havenā€™t lived with my mom for many a decade now.
          They rarely show up for my meal times and thatā€™s just fine with me.

  354. Today was fucking surreal.

    I looked at my motherā€™s face for the last time.
    We had the funeral in my childhood church. I havenā€™t set foot inside of there since the mid 1980s.

    We buried my mother.

    My elderly uncle slipped and fell on the ice at the cemetery. I was concerned. Heā€™s ok.

    I hung out until the wee hours with cherished childhood friends at this house, just like we used to do 30 and 40 years ago.

    At the end of the night, I saw a mouse run across the floor in the kitchen.

      • My wife has watch Grey’s Anatomy since the start. And we watched the first season of The Last Ship. In general, I’ve enjoyed him as an actor. His ALS diagnosis was a shame, and he died far too young.

  381. Checking my messages, I saw that I had received a call from the future.
    Sadly, it appears that the future is just AI generated spam.
    Here is a transcript of the first sentence-

    ā€œGood morning my name is Emerson Blake calling tomorrow from the account verification servicesā€¦ā€

  382. Last day here…. Wrapped up with an open mic – – it was a good time!

    I sat in with a few other guys and my own set was:

    Wish You Were Here
    Skullcrusher Mountain
    Voodoo Child

  384. Can only find fan made trailers, but looking forward to the spin off series to For All Mankind called Star City that is told from the Soviet side.

  387. If weā€™re not snowed out, we will have company tomorrow. We will be starting an old west style RPG. For a ā€œsession 0*ā€ day, the husband has printed up an awfully lot of maps

    * game 0 day is when you do all the prelim like create characters, why and how they are together, etc. But donā€™t actually do any adventuring

    • Remember when Congress authorized the use of force against Iran?

      Me neither.

      Any U.S. attack on Iran would violate U.S. and international law.

      Not that trump cares about the rule of law.

  397. CP: Get it Right Next time – Gerry Rafferty

    For a few years, this track was used on a segment during snooker coverage with a bloopers segment.

  399. TIL: Thereā€™s a conspiracy theory claiming that Jim Carrey has been replaced with a clone or a surgically-altered double. Opinions vary on what happened to the real Jim Carrey.

    • This seems to be a common thing with certain celebrities, especially ones that have drastically changed their looks. From Paul McCartney to April Lavigne

  401. After working from sun up til bedtime everyday for the last 3 weeks to move out of half our house ā€¦ the remodeling starts today.
    Iā€™m not sure my relationship will survive this.!

  403. Me: I should think about starting lunch

    The husband, looking at himself and realizing heā€™s still in his pyjamas: do I have time to shower and dress first?

    Me: Mondays when youā€™re retired are awesome

  404. So I started watching Drops of God on AppleTV.

    As someone who finds all wine tastes of vinegar Iā€™m enjoying the show so far.

  408. I saw ā€˜How to Make a Killingā€ tonight at the cinema.

    Enjoyed it, but since itā€™s based on the same book as ā€˜Kind Hearts and Coronetsā€™ the ending was not unexpected.

    Plus the older film has Alec Guinness playing all the family members that are killed and is worth checking out if you ever come across it while channel surfingā€¦

  413. OK…. *deep breath* … “Dread Spherical” is posted at Amazon for eBook and Print publication. Just waiting for their confirmation. Release date: March 24.

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